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I have a script that reassigns stdout to print a file like this:

sys.stdout = open('output_file', 'w')

Later I want to reset it back to normal and I use this:

sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__

But it doesn't work. The output doesn't go the file any longer but it also doesn't go to the console. It seems to just disappear. I have to restart the app to get the output working properly again.

I noticed this previous post where omz mentioned a special StdoutCatcher class needed to allow Pythonista to redirect output to the console. I'm guessing this is involved in why sys.__stdout__ doesn't do what it normally would.

Is there something I can do in my script to restore stdout to (Pythonista's version of) working properly again? Can StdoutCatcher be used explicitly for this?

Many thanks!

Just save the current stdout to a variable before reassigning it:

default_stdout = sys.stdout
file_handle = open('output_file', 'w')
try:
    sys.stdout = file_handle
    sys.stdout.write('foo bar')
finally:
    # make sure to restore stdout, even if an exception occurs.
    sys.stdout = default_stdout

Too easy! Thanks!

Also see: http://omz-forums.appspot.com/pythonista/post/4782531983441920